The Girl in the Mirror
by BreakfastBender
Summary: A story about Toki, and Toki's ability to love. Toki and OC.


It was a cold day in Mordhaus the morning Charlie died. None of the members of Dethklok could believe it either. None of them knew how to react. When one of the Gears went up to wake Charles at 8 AM, assuming that he had accidentally forgotten to set his alarm for his customary 6, they discovered a cold body in the bed. The paramedics were called and Charles was rushed to the hospital wing, only to be pronounced dead on arrival. The coroner determined that he must have died around 4 of a heart attack. All in all, very few were surprised; dealing with Dethklok on a daily basis must drive up one's blood pressure. Dethklok, however, were much more surprised when they were told at their 2 PM breakfast.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo," Nathan growled as a Dethmedic handed him release forms to sign. "He isn't dead, he's just gone off to do reconnaissance again," he shoved away the papers and took another sausage from the massive platter on the table.

"'Dis am dumb dildos," Skwissgaar added taking a sip of his soy latte "His leaving an corpse in his bed to fools us,"  
>"Yeah ansh he dishn't even telsh me!" Muderface added wolfing down a massive portion of beans for breakfast, guaranteeing that no one would want to share the common room with him.<p>

"Don't worry about it guiez," Pickles said to the gears. "Just dump the stiff in the dumpster. Prolly just a drifter," And returned to his screwdriver with the smallest amount of orange juice possible.

The only one who didn't speak up was Toki. He had had a nightmare that night. He knew that it was true. He knew that Charles was dead. He couldn't lie to himself like the rest of the band, they all were lying. They didn't want to believe, so they didn't. But he knew that Charles was dead. Anyone he cared about died. He'd discovered that when he was young outside of Lillehammer. His pets were killed by his father, his friends all died of horrible illnesses, and he felt like there was something in his heart about someone else, but he couldn't find the name and face as much as he tried. He stared numbly at the large bite of waffle he had cut for himself before he was given the news. He was so happy to have waffles for breakfast. They had always been his favorite. Now he had no desire to eat them. He decided that he hated waffles. So he stood up.

"I's want no breakfast," he walked out of the door to the dining room silently. Muderface promptly grabbed his plate and ate the waffles himself.

"My lords, there is the problem of a new manager. A temporary one was already set in place by Master Offdensen and she should be here shortly,"

"She?" Nathan glanced up. "Charles handed the band over to a woman?" The gear nodded "Brutal. What's her name?"

"We don't know my lord," the gear said as he bowed "We called a number that was left in an emergency capsule and only got a message that said 'I'm on my way' in a female voice. Master Offdensen's only note was 'Call in the case of my untimely death'. A gps tracker was activated from the same box when the number was dialed, if it is tracking your new manager, she should be here around dinner lord,"

"Make sure Jean makes something girly for dinner, she's going to be disappointed when she finds out that Charles was just out for the morning," Nathan ordered, finishing his coffee and picking up the morning paper.

Toki sat on his bed in a haze of sadness. Charles had been a father figure since he had joined the band at fourteen. When he ran away, he had drifted for what seemed like forever in Norway. He didn't remember how he had met Dethklok, but he remembered touring with them in a gear capacity for a while. Someone had wanted him around. Was it Skwisgaar? It had to have been. No one else could understand what he was saying most of the time.

His English at the time was even worse than it is now. He could barely form simple sentences in English. His English was something akin to a child's speech when he met Dethklok. He could communicate with children best at the time, and that was why he still felt that way now. He still liked kids better than adults, he felt like they always understood him the best. He hadn't always, but after joining Dethklok he felt it. He couldn't remember why. It seemed that his first year or two with the band had been wiped clean. All he really had were the pictures from the time.

He reached underneath his twin bed and pulled out a Doc Marten's box. It was full to the brim with pictures. He flipped through them one by one, pulling out his favorite set first. Here was one that had him and the band in the park. The old rhythm guitarist was there too, sitting over with Skwissgaar and eating big slices of watermelon. That was quite out of character, but maybe it had been the spirit of the day. He noticed something else odd; they were looking at something that he couldn't see. They were staring at exactly the same point of the table, but there was nothing there. It seemed like the fourteen year old him who had been given the camera had been taking a picture of something. But that something wasn't there.

He hadn't noticed this before, and flipping through the pictures he noticed that it was a common thread. There was something missing in all of them. Here and there were signs of an entity that had been removed. Simple things like s swing in mid movement, a smile being thrown at the ground where the grass was depressed. These weren't the pictures that he had taken. These were copies; altered copies. Someone had changed the copies, and judging by the bent and worn edges he hadn't noticed. It hadn't hit him until just now that there was something missing from these pictures. He finally came to one that he hadn't taken, one that he had handed someone else the camera for. It was fourteen year old him standing in front of the tour bus clutching his brand new Deddy bear which was wearing a pink bowtie. The person who took the picture had just given it to him and he looked happier than he had ever been before. Someone didn't edit this picture because they hadn't noticed the little girl holding the camera reflected in the side mirror.

Toki froze. He'd never noticed that little girl before. All of the times he had pulled this picture out and showed it to Deddy bear telling him about the day Charles had given him to him. How happy he was to finally have a friend. How the pink bow made him smile. He never thought about that reflection because the story he had know had an easy explanation. Charles had given him the bear because he was lonely. But today, with Charles dead, something was telling him the story wasn't right. Trying to remember that story was impossible. He didn't remember Charles giving him the bear. He didn't remember being given the bear at all. He was told the story after a severe accident on that tour; the accident that claimed the previous rhythm guitarist's life and made him the rhythm guitarist. He woke up in the hospital and was told the entire story of his life with Dethklok. He accepted it as fact without any questions, partially because he didn't know how to ask them. But now, something was wrong. He couldn't remember any of those stories about his early life with Dethklok. There was a little girl in a mirror that didn't have a little girl before; a little girl that had taken a picture of a fourteen year old him.

Someone had to know who that little girl was. Someone.

* * *

><p>Toki tore through the house looking for answers. First he knocked on Skwissgaar's door and went into his room at his voice.<p>

"Whats?" Skwissgaar asked without looking up from his guitar.

"Skwisgaar, who gives me Deddy?"

Skwisgaar sighed "Charles give you Deddy while we ats park on de tour before wes upgrades you to rhythm guitars. Why you asks me?"

"Skwisgaar, I tinks dats a lies. Look at dis pictures," Toki said sitting next to Skwisgaar and pointing out the little girl in the mirror. "Whos dats?"

"Dats a littles girls who wants takes your picture. Her moms was a sluts for me and lefts the little girl with you," Skwisgaar said, continuing to play.

It was a plausible explanation for her presence. Skwisgaar was a man-whore, and the women who slept with him were likely to leave their daughters in the care of strangers. But something was telling Toki that that was another lie. "How's you knows?"

"Charles tells me after dat big accidents that mades you our seconds guitar. Woulds you get out Toki! I ams trying to practices,"

An agitated Skwisgaar wouldn't give Toki any further answers so he showed himself out. The explanation Skwisgaar gave made complete sense, but why couldn't he believe?

Toki couldn't let it rest. Instead he kept on down the hall and knocked on Pickles' door. Pickles made some sound that was not easily discernable through the door and went inside. Pickles was seated on his bed watching television and inhaling alcohol by the bottle.

"What can eye do for you Toki?" Pickles said with a grin

"Pickle, where did I gets Deddy?" Toki said, taking a seat next to him.

"Oh, gee. I don't really know Toki. I was far too drunk. Didn't Charles tell you this already? He gave it to you as a present so you'd have someone to annoy besides the band," Pickles said, believing every word.

"Whos dis girl?" Toki asked aggressively, pointing out the figure in the bus mirror in his picture.

"Geez, calm down Toki. It was just some girl that was hanging around in the park. She saw Deddy and told you he was cute. You asked her to take a picture of you and Deddy,"

"Why I has no pictures of her?"

"You didn't take any Toki. The picture of you and Deddy was the last picture on the roll. I remember because you kept saying that we had to go back to the park to take a picture of her pretty dress. You only shut up about it when the bus blew up,"

"Pickle, I don't rememebers dis girl. You says you were too drunk dat day. Hows you remember dis girl?"

"Charles told me when I woke up after the accident Toki. He told all of us about that day in the park because none of us could remember,"

Toki stood up and thanked Pickles. He walked out and instead of returning to his room he decided to go find Nathan and Murderface. He had gotten two very plausible explanations of who the little girl in the mirror was, but he still felt that neither was correct. Something told him that that little girl wasn't just some random little girl in a pretty pink dress. If she was really a random person, why did the sight of her make him feel so empty; like he had forgotten some large part of himself and who he was. It was maddening. Nathan would know.

As he came into the common room Murderface was sitting on the couch attempting to write lyrics for Planet Piss and Nathan was sitting with a copy of Romeo and Juliet in the hot tub. He took a seat beside the tub and started his line of questioning.

"Nathans, who gives me Deddy?"

Nathan didn't even look up from his book "Charles,"

"Denn whose dis?" Toki asked, pointing out the girl's reflection in the photo.

"I don't know, some girl in the park. Why do you care?"

Toki couldn't explain in English. He lacked the lexicon to explain that he felt like she was part of his past that he'd let go of completely against his will. Something was rending his heart to know who she was.

"Letsch me schee" Murderface said, looking over the back of the couch at Toki. Toki took the picture to him. "Oh, thasch girl! Sche gave Deddy that bowtie. Sche took it off her dress. I remember you wanted to go basck to schank her before the accident. You forgot about it when you were in the hoscpital," he said with finality.

Toki thanked him, and returned to his room. He rooted around the box again and found the little pink bow that Deddy had been wearing in the picture. It was silk, and the color was exactly the same as the dress that the girl in the picture was wearing. What he had been told today made perfect sense; she had been a little girl in the park that was hanging around him that day. It also made sense that he would have liked her dress. The one thing that didn't sit right was that he hadn't taken one picture of her. Toki knew himself and knew that he would have taken a picture of her pretty dress the second he saw it. There was something more about that girl that he needed to know, but for now he had nothing to go on. He shuffled through the pictures again, thinking that he actually had a lot of pictures of her, but she'd been cut out of all of them when the pictures were developed. What he didn't understand was why. He sat pondering the why of her removal until a gear came knocking on his door.

"Sir Toki, dinner is ready,"

* * *

><p>Dethklok sat around a table that would have made even the richest king believe himself a poor man. The table was absolutely laden with dishes of all types. There was a plate loaded down with lobsters, another with steak, and one filled to brimming with escargot. However, these three expensive dishes were ignored for the plates of burgers and fries. The occasion was the welcome of the new manager and the spread was so rich in hopes that it may impress her. Skwisgaar had suggested the rich food, hoping she was a milf or gmilf. The rest of the band insisted that she was a temporary replacement, that Charles was still alive and that he'd come in at the end of the dinner, thanking her for her trip and sending her on her way. Toki was the only one who was even in slightest bit sad to see the grand meal and the lack of Charles. He knew that whatever had happened, it had changed the face of Dethklok. It was like the horrible accident that brought him from guitar tuner to rhythm guitarist, something unexpected.<p>

He still wasn't hungry, but attempted to pick at some sort of vegetable dish that smelled much better than it looked. He didn't even want candy; he was just too sad and confused. The existence of that little girl had changed his existence, and because Charles was dead he couldn't ask him about her. However, the fact was that even if he had asked, he was sure that he'd have answered the same as the rest of the band. She was just a girl in the park that gave a bow to Deddy, he'd run out of pictures before he got one of her.

As he wracked his brain over what that might mean, the rest of the boys stopped eating. Toki was oblivious to the rhythmic click of heels and the swing of the large doors at the end of the dining room. It was only the sudden clearing of an unfamiliar throat that brought him out of his pondering. The others had dropped their food and were staring at the overly average woman standing at the opposite end of the table. The end that their manager was supposed to sit at. The only thing that he noticed about her, other than her being a woman, was how much she looked like Charles. In fact, if he didn't know better he'd say she was . . .

"I am the late Charles Offdensen's daughter, Charlene. I am your manager pro temp until you choose to hire me or choose a new manager. My job continues on a temporal basis for the next four months in which I assume all the roles of your former manager. You can choose at the end of these four months to keep me as your manager or you can replace me. I am simply here to put my father's books in order until you are able to choose another manager," The woman was standing rigidly waiting to be spoken to. The rest of the band sat stock still and silent.

"Hey lady, Charles didn't have a daughter. Who are you?" Nathan said.

"I am his daughter, and just because he didn't introduce me to you, Mr. Explosion, doesn't mean I don't exist. I am here to put his books in order. Would you please have one of your Gears show me to his office?"

Without any of the band members making any sort of move, one of the female Gears had gone to her elbow. "Follow me Ms. Offdensen,"

She turned to the band before mounting the stairs to Charles's private study looking at each of the boys in turn. "Thank you Mr. Explosion, Mr. Pickles, Mr. Murderface, Mr. Skwigelf and Mr. . . " She paused, eyes drifting over Toki's face. Without even attempting to address Toki further, she turned and climbed the stairs. None of the other band members seemed to even notice. Instead they returned to their frenzied eating. Toki, however, had noticed. Boy had he noticed. He couldn't move. He sat their stock still, barely breathing. He knew this feeling, it was the feeling that he had when he saw his parents. All the memories of the horrific abuse would come flooding back and freeze him up. However, this one was silent. The memories were flooding, he could feel them, but he wasn't seeing anything. He heard something then, something small like a little girl's voice in the back of his mind said "Toki, when I grow up we're gonna get married," Suddenly, everything went black.

* * *

><p>It was a beautiful day on the tour. They had decided to go to the park to get some sunshine and to relax for a bit. They had all climbed on the bus, Dethklok, their manager Charles, his beautiful ten-year-old daughter Charlene and the little Norwegian boy named Toki that tuned Skwisgaar's guitar. Charlene had a huge smile as she climbed in the bus and sat next to Toki. She always smiled, but today she was smiling extra wide. Toki didn't know how to ask her why she was smiling so big, but somehow she knew he was wondering why.<p>

"I'm happy because this is our engagement party Toki!" Toki didn't understand. "Toki, today is the day that daddy is going to announce that you're going to marry me when I get old enough!" Toki knew the word marry, and he knew the word father. He blushed and shook his head to tell her no but he also heard Charles and the rest of the band laughing.

"What Toki? You don't want to marry my daughter? I don't blame you, but I don't know what I can do, she seems to have her heart set on it!"Charles said through his laughter. Charlene was the one that insisted Toki come with them on tour. She found him in the snow two years ago while they were touring in Norway. She didn't understand why a little boy had to live in a box behind a club. She had begged and pleaded for him to at least give him a new coat. They had a week off in Norway, so they let him stay in the hotel room with them and got him some new clothes. Toki quickly grew on the rest of the band. He obviously knew who Dethklok was, and worshipped Skwisgaar like a god. He liked the rest of the boys too and they took him on as sort of a mascot for the week. At the end of the week, when it was time to leave Norway, Charlene cried and screamed and went running out into the snow when they said that Toki couldn't come with them. The snow drifts in the woods had to be at least 2 feet, over half of Charlene's height. Toki made a sign that he'd go after her because he knew these woods. An hour later, Toki brought back Charlene. He had taken off all of his clothes save for his thick boots to wrap her in because she hadn't been dressed for the snow. In any other circumstance a father would have a fit having his eight year old daughter brought back to him by a naked 12 year old homeless boy, but this was no ordinary circumstance. Charles took Charlene and put her in her bed wrapped in thick woolen blankets and Toki was put into the bunk right next to her (redressed in Skwisgaar's old PJs of course). It was that act of heroics that made Toki part of Dethklok. Charles couldn't rightly allow the young man that saved his daughter's life die the cold in Norway. Besides, his daughter wouldn't allow it.

Now Charlene was 10 and Toki was 14. He spoke barely anymore English now than he did then, but he did know that Charlene was the reason he was here. He also knew that he wouldn't want to be here if she wasn't. Toki couldn't explain love to you in Norwegian or English, but he could tell you that he felt empty when Charlene was away and when she was sick he felt like he might die. Charles saw this, and knew that there was nothing he could do. He could bear Toki as a son-in-law in eight years or so. And it was funny to watch her lead Toki around like she was already his wife. The rest of the band called them Charki and endlessly teased Toki about her.

Still Toki was shaking his head and saying "No". She looked at Toki and pulled a great big box out from under her seat.

"See Toki, I even got you an engagement present!" The bow and paper on the box matched the pretty pink dress that Charles had bought her for her birthday. "You wanna see?" Toki looked torn, he wanted to know what was in the box, but he didn't want to marry a little girl. "If you don't promise to marry me you can't have the present!" Charlene bargained. Toki looked at Skwisgaar who was laughing so hard he had begun to cry.

The bus pulled over into the parking lot and before Toki had to make the horrible choice Charlene had tucked the present back underneath the seat. "We're here, we're here!" She said jumping up and running out into the parking lot. "C'mon Toki, push me on the swing!" Toki followed, and so did the rest of the band once they had regained their composure. Toki had gotten a special disposable camera for today; he hoped it wasn't because it was the day he would pledge to marry Charlene. Either way he ran around taking pictures of everything, most of them of Charlene. Some of her eating watermelon with the guitarists, or on the wobble horses with Pickles, or his favorite of her being pushed on the swing by her father. But before he could use the last picture she stopped him.

"Toki," She said, her green eyes staring up into his blue ones. "Please open my present? You don't have to marry me if you don't want, but I picked it out special for you. I want you to have it," She was being sincere, so Toki went onto the bus and brought the big pink box out to the parking lot. Charlene had the camera while he stripped the paper from the box and opened it. Inside he found the cutest little teddy bear he'd ever seen, a little teddy bear with a devil tail. He hugged his new present to his chest and Charlene took the final exposure on the roll of Toki hugging his new Deddy bear in front of their tour bus.

* * *

><p>Several hours later it was time to go home, and they had made it halfway there without any problems. Charlene was asleep on Toki's shoulder and Toki had his head leaning against the window. There was no warning before the bomb went off. It was later determined that the bomb had been planted in one of the wheel wells while they were at the park. According to the official report there was only one casualty, the rhythm guitarist of Dethklok. All the other people on the bus save for the manager suffered major head trauma. The only one that could give a statement was him, and he stated that the band members had been on a picnic in the park and on their way home something exploded killing their rhythm guitarist and that their guitar tech Toki would be replacing him. There was no mention of Charles' daughter and, in time, the world forgot about her. They were far too absorbed in talking about the child guitarist Toki. It was like she had never existed.<p>

* * *

><p>Toki woke up in the hospital wing surrounded by his bandmates. He couldn't speak. His mind was racing. How did no one else remember the girl who was now their band manager? She had been there when the other guitarist died. Toki wanted to shout it out, that he knew now why he was here and he knew who she was and that not everything he loved died. Instead a harsh voice came from behind his bandmates. "If you excuse me, I have some things to discuss with Mr. Wartooth,"<p>

They filed out without argument, not knowing what to say to him in the first place and unwilling to argue with the rather severe looking woman. There was something wrong with them. Maybe her reappearance had affected them as much as it did him. She sat on the chair across from him. Gone was the warm little girl that had loved him, and that he had loved. Instead, there was a cold lady with a rigid posture in a gray suit with her dark brown hair pulled into a bun sitting across from him.

"Toki, my father sent me away for my own good. That bomb wasn't meant to kill the band, that bomb was meant to kill me. They figured that my death would cripple my father and by proxy the band. They didn't count on my dad knowing psychiatrists good at hypnotism. He made it seem like I didn't exist, or that I had died long before he met the band. I was sent to school in Europe and trained to take his place. I have to beg you to not tell the rest of the band. Their hypnosis has held, but you and I, they said that your ties to me wouldn't be easily broken. That's why I was edited out of all of your pictures, but my dad couldn't bear to take away Deddy. He always knew that you remembered me, even if you couldn't name me. I'm sorry Toki, I have to break our engagement. You and I cannot be together, not now, not ever," She said the last words with a strong point on them, as if they were final.

The lady named Charlene stood up and walked out of the room without any further words. The doctor came in and told him that all the tests came back fine and that he could return to his own quarters if he wished. Toki got out of the bed, his heart feeling like it was full of lead and that his blood was ice. He returned to his room and found on his bed a new pack of pictures. When he opened them he found the unedited pictures; the ones that he had chased his first love around to get. The ones that brought to mind what could and should have been. As he sat on his bed, tears streaming down his face he told Deddy a new story; a story about how Deddy was his engagement present and how his existence promised him a pleasant life when Charles returned. This story had no happy ending. As long as Deddy was with him, Charlene was his fiancée and she couldn't escape that. It was the deal she had made all those years ago.

* * *

><p>Charlene watched Toki tell Deddy this story through the monitoring cameras that were in all of the boy's rooms for added security. It pulled one tear from her eye. She looked at the videophone open on her new desk. The picture was of her father across the sea somewhere. "Why did you make me come here if you knew you'd be coming back?" she asked, barely holding back her anger and pain. Until five minutes ago she had believed that he was dead.<p>

"Because I need four months to take care of some things and the last time I left the boys to themselves they nearly destroyed the company. I know it hurts, but you have to pretend you don't love him. It's only four months,"

"And then?"

"Well, after this it'll be impossible to keep your existence from the press and you'll be a target again. There will be nothing for me to do but put you under the strongest protection possible, which would be staying on as my assistant at Mordhaus. I long ago gave myself over to accepting Toki as my son-in-law. If you can remain professional for four months, you have my blessing,"

"What if he doesn't love me after this? What if my coldness hurts him? What if he forgets why he loved me?"

"He didn't forget you after the best hypnotist in the business willed him to. He didn't forget you after we edited you out of all of his pictures. He didn't forget you when he was given good reason to believe that you were just some random girl in the park. He won't forget you because you're cold to him for a few months. You and him are, unfortunately, meant to be," Charles said with a sigh. "My brilliant little girl, a wife to a sub-par guitarist. Where did I go wrong?"

"Goodnight Daddy,"

"Goodnight Charlene," He said as she hung up. She turned around at her desk and stood up, walking over to the corner in which she had set up her own instrument. She sat down and played the melody that she had been perfecting since she first had picked up the cello in the private school she had been sent to at the age of 10. The song was about her and Toki's lost love. It was melancholy and sweet. Tonight she added a new part to the end. The new part was one that spoke of her reunion, something cold with a passionate undertone that spoke to her ability and acceptance of waiting until the end of time for her love. And in his room beneath her study, Toki played the same melancholy melody.


End file.
